Highland Park Cask Strength Review | Whiskey Raiders
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90
Scotch

Highland Park Cask Strength

  • Distiller:

    Highland Park

  • Bottler:

    Highland Park

  • ABV:

    63.3%

  • Age:

    NAS

  • Price:
    $$$$$
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Aggregated Reviews
  • Raided Score: 93
  • Publication: WhiskyCast
  • Excerpt: Adding water boosts the fruitiness while not diminishing the spicy character. The finish is long and spicy with hints of toasted caramel and tropical fruits.
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  • Raided Score: 88
  • Publication: Distiller
  • Excerpt: Despite the proof, the dram has plenty to show without adding water. However if you do, you'll bring out more spice on the nose and a little chocolate. The finish is bittersweet and tangy with a mix of fruit, moss, and peat.
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  • Raided Score: 91
  • Publication: The Whiskey Wash
  • Excerpt: This whisky delivers the structured flavor development that Highland Park is famous for. There is less peat than expected outside of the exaggerated finish but plenty to occupy the senses until it shows up.
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  • Raided Score: 92
  • Publication: Whisky Advocate
  • Excerpt: Sweet and smoky on the palate, with toffee and orchard fruits turning more citric in time. The finish yields sweet spices, more honey, dark chocolate, black pepper, and bonfire embers. Classic Highland Park—turned up to 11!
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  • Raided Score: 91
  • Publication: Drinkhacker
  • Excerpt: The finish keeps the pedal down on notes of juicy orange, sweet honey, aggressive spice, and caramel sauce. It simply never lets up, with those cloves showing as the last element to fade.
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  • Raided Score: 87
  • Publication: Whisky Monster
  • Excerpt: I believe this was a whisky Highland Park desperately needed in the core range. This might sound pretentious but It can create an impact like a'Bunadh did for Aberlour in the latest years.
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  • Raided Score: 90
  • Publication: Whiskey Raiders
  • Excerpt: While pricey, it's worth every dollar and a welcome release from a producer who's leaned into quantity over quality in other recent releases.
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Raided Score is a conversion from an external site's score, to our in house uniform scoring system. Please see the FAQ for more.

House Review
  • Intro:

    A new release from Highland Park, this particular release is an Official Bottling from the distillery, released widely, and stickered around $85 or so. Billed as the First Release, and bottled at 63.3% ABV, it seems likely we'll see follow up bottlings from the distiller as well.

  • Nose:

    Powerful and inviting - the ABV is immediately apparent in the richness of the nose. Toffee, creme brulee, powerful slate and pepper on the nose.

  • Taste:

    Sweet on the palate at first - bold with plenty of oak and dessert flavor. Creme brulee, cocoa, oak and a bit of toffee stand out before powerful ash, faint smoke, and a bit whallop of burning wood and minerality storm in. There's no shortage of flavor with a rich mouth feel, and the ABV is incredibly gentle - you'd never know it was 63% ABV.

  • Finish:

    Long finish, loaded with stone, slate, ash and cocoa as well as a bit of honey, and pepper.

  • Overall:

    Highland Park's first exercise in a wide release, OB Cask Strength offering is a standout success. While pricey, it's worth every dollar and a welcome release from a producer who's leaned into quantity over quality in other recent releases.

  • Score:

    7

  • By t8ke
  • Our in house critic rates spirits on a scale of 0-10 (10 best) and is aggregated the same as external sources
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